The Point: Fall 2018

Writer: Monica Kochan & Jubilee
Pham
Story Editor: Rebecca Mitchell
Photographer: Austin Bland
Designer: Rose Nickols
& Cassidy Eldridge
“
I
feel like I have done something. I survived,”
said Massar Alzeyarah.
Massar Alzeyarah was born in Iraq and
lived in its capital, Baghdad, until he was
2 or 3 years old, at which point he and
his family left for Syria due to the 2003
United States invasion.
The Iraq War, also known as the Second
Persian Gulf War, included two phases, as
detailed in the Encyclopedia Britannica’s
entry on the subject. The first consisted of
U.S. and British forces invading Iraq, resulting
in a war from March to April 2003.
The second phase started when the U.S.
began to occupy Iraq and continued with
opposition, which resulted in an almost
8-year war.
“After violence began to decline in 2007,
the United States gradually reduced its
military presence in Iraq, formally completing
its withdrawal in December 2011,”
the entry said.
Alzeyarah considers himself Iraqi and his
home to be Iraq, but also recalls his time
in Syria fondly. This is the place where he
spent 10 or 11 years of his life; this time is
one that he recalls with happiness as well
as a sadness brought on by the Syrian Civil
War’s invasion of life as he once knew it.
“I had a really fun time there, except at
the end, when the war started,” Alzeyarah
said. “I made a lot of friends, and I was
really close to them, and I consider them
family. We used to hang out every day, all
day, play soccer together, eat together …
like we did all the things together. That’s
why we’re family; we still talk until this
day.”
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